I know I haven't written in a while, either on here or in my actual journal. But I have been keeping track of everything that has happened. So I'm going to catch everything up on here and then put it in my journal. Today is the first day of our family... it got off to a rocky start, but everything ended up okay. Just like a fairytale...
BritneeRae was supposed to pick me up at 6 am so we would have plenty of time to get a good breakfast before I had to check into labor and delivery at 7:30. She was running late, which made me mad. Nathaniel was on his way home from work but still wouldn't make it home until I had already checked in and I didn't want to drive the car and then have to figure out how to get 2 vehicles back from the hospital since I doubted I was going to feel like driving when the discharged me and Lilah. So I ate some fruit loops. She showed up right after I had poured milk on it (at about 640-- which was sooo not enough time to make it to Leesville, go to waffle shoppe or bjs and make it on time to the hospital... and I didn't want fast food)
We made it to the hospital at a little after 7. The Dr and nurse that was supposed to be assigned to me wasn't there yet and wouldn't be until right at 730, so we were sitting in the waiting area of L&D. Nathaniel texted me as soon as we got there and asked if I'd ate anything... when I told him I had some cereal, he was NOT happy since it would be so long before I could eat again (nothing but ice chips until after the baby was born once we checked in). He said he was almost in Leesville and that he'd called in an order to BJs and not to go in until he got there... He showed up a few minutes later with some biscuits and gravy :) See? He does love me lol I ate half of it before I was full and they called me back.
At 730 they called me back to get me hooked up to everything. Nathaniel and BritneeRae stayed in the waiting room... I got my gown on and they hooked me up to the IVs and everything. At 840, everything was rolling along smoothly... Dr Sarfraz was VERY prompt and came in the minute they got me situated and broke my water. That was the most uncomfortable feeling I think I have ever felt. First it felt like he was popping a balloon inside of me when he inserted the crochet needle looking thing... then it felt like I was peeing my pants when the amniotic fluid started flowing...and everytime I coughed or moved, more would come out. Then they pushed lightly on my belly to squish more out... ew. Lol and I wasn't allowed to get out of the bed once they broke my water so I had to sit with wet pads under me and more stuff coming out :/ Not cool at all.
Finally they got the pitocin started (at a 6 initially since the Dr was already there.. and they upped it everytime they checked on me, usually 2 or 3 notches every 15-20 minutes) and Nathaniel and BRae were allowed to come in. I explained the moniters and stuff to Nathaniel so he would know what he was looking at and then the waiting started. At 1030, I had dialated from a 1 (when they broke my water) to a 2-3. .By 11, I was starting to feel little contractions.. Nathaniel was still with me, but BRae had left to go check on JJ who was with the babysitter... Monica popped in to say hi.. her and Jason Tyler lol. BRae had texted them to tell them we were at the hospital, but forgot to tell them that we had just gotten there and were getting induced lol The nurse came in and told me that I was dialated to a 3 and that any time I wanted, I could get the epidural, but that I would have to take a bag of saline before I could get it to make sure I was well hydrated and so it wouldn't make me sick. I told her I was fine for a little longer (I didn't want to get it too early and even though I was FEELING the contractions, they weren't really hurting just yet).
Cheah. At 1130, I was really starting to feel them. The nurse came back around 1145 and checked me and I asked her to go ahead and start the IV... by noon, I was gripping the bedrails because I was hurting so damn bad. How Robin went thru them almost all the way without pain medicine, I have NOOOO idea. It took almost an hour to get the entire bag of IV fluids down. Then another half hour for the anesthesialogist person to make it up to start the epidural...
At about 115, the lady got there to give me the epidural. I was hurting so bad with the contractions that I was trying so hard not to cry in front of Nathaniel. My hands hurt from gripping the bed rails thru them and everytime I would get quiet, Nathaniel was by the bed rubbing my back and asking if there was anything he could do and saying he was sorry... I laughed and told him it took two... I was dialated to a 4 now, which was considered "active" labor and the contractions seemed to be every 3-4 minutes. Just long enough to catch my breath but not long enough to get my body to relax before the next one would hit. When she came in to do the epidural, they made Nathaniel leave. At first, I was scared because that left me alone with a lot of strangers (all female, thank god), in pain, and not knowing what was going on. They needed me to sit up straight with my legs off the edge of the bed. I was hurting so bad now that I was really crying and I wanted to scream but I knew that would make it hurt worse and they needed me to hold still. It took everything I had to keep my back straight and bowed out (hunched shoulders) so she could run the line and stuff.. at first, she did it wrong and I told her that I could feel whatever she was doing all the way down into the back of my left leg... so she had to pull out and start again. The second time, she got it right. (By this time, I was positive that I was breaking the hands of the nurse that told me I could squeeze her hands if it would help me stay still for the few minutes it took her to do the procedure, but she told me it was okay) Then they ran lots of surgical tape in a big star pattern over my back to keep the line in. About 5 minutes after they got the thing started, the contractions were so wonderfully muted... still there, but manageable considering how they had been.
Nathaniel came back in the room once I got calmed down and they got the catheter inserted and cleaned me up. At 150, they checked to see if she had dropped yet (since she had yet to drop at all and I was already dialated to a 4). The nurse assigned to me checked and couldn't tell so she went and got the senior nurse and she said that she was going to get the dr because she hadn't dropped at all. Sarfraz came and checked and said that she was face up and was caught on my pelvic bone.. so they were going to put me on my left side to see if maybe she would get unhung enough to drop to the birth canal and check me every 30 minutes to see if anything had changed. He said he was going to give it til 330 and if nothing had changed, they were gonna do a c-section (oh.. yeehaw)
Her little heartrate kept dipping off and on thru the contractions so they put me on oxygen for about half the time I was in labor. They told me it was completely normal but that it was safer to keep me with an oxygen mask than it would have been to let her heartrate keep going so low. At 330, there was still no change.. And they forgot to tell me that the damn epidural was positional (which means whatever side you lay on, you will have NO feeling in at all so my left side was completely non-existent to me since I'd been on it for an hour and a half). Sarfraz and them came to get me to take me to surgery and replaced the epidural with a spinal block, so I couldn't feel anything from the bottom of my ribs, down. After not feeling my legs or anything for 2 hours and then REALLY not feeling them, it kind of freaked me out. And they told Nathaniel that they would bring him down in a minute, but that he had to put on a gown and stuff...
Surgery room. Really REALLY not cool...They put me on the surgery table and then proceded to strap my arms down completely splayed out straight like i was trying to fly. Then they put something heavy feeling and warm over my legs... I have no idea what was going on "down there" because they had put a curtain up over my chest and I couldn't see. Everything was kind of fuzzy then (combination of painmeds and fear, I assume). I remember fighting the restraints on my arms (you'd think they would have asked about claustrophobia beforehand!). I remember Nathaniel coming in and I thought he told me to calm down... I managed to stay still while I felt them tugging and pulling even though I hated being restrained...
Finally after what felt like forever, everyone got quiet and I heard her cry. I wanted to hold her but I couldn't because I was still strapped down. They moved her to the side to clean her up and Nathaniel went over with her and they started stitching me up. I know the nurse was talking to me, but I can't remember what he was saying.. probably meaningless reassurances, I'm sure. I remember Nathaniel leaving with the baby and I remember fighting the restraints and trying to kick the weight off my legs....
The next thing I remember was waking up in a dim room with a nurse checking my pulse. To keep me from hurting myself while they were closing my incision, they gave me something to knock me out. When I looked at the clock, it was 7 pm. The nurse told me that Lilah was born at 5:01 pm, 6 lb 13.6 oz and 19 inches long. She said that Nathaniel was with her at the nursery. She finished checking my vitals and unhooked everything and started to take me to a recovery room.. I remember feeling very very bruised, but other than that, just kind of fuzzy around the edges. They got me to a room and put something on my legs that felt like a blood pressure cuff and would periodically inflate and deflate. I asked them what it was and they said it was to keep my blood flowing properly thru my legs to keep blood clots from forming since I wouldn't be allowed to get up until the next day and would probably be unable to move them much between now and then.
After they got me situated in the bed and hooked back up to yet MORE IV's, and got the pain medication going and explained everything to me, they went and got Lilah and Nathaniel. I was still kind of out of it but I remember her being the most beautiful little thing.. Kind of puffy but with a head FULL of hair. It was amazing finally meeting the little creature that had been using my insides as a soccer field and causing so much pain because she didn't like what I'd eaten.... I was in love :) And Nathaniel was there, right beside me.
[He told me later that the nurses were probably glad for him to be in the room with me instead of still in the nursery/waiting area... that he kept getting short with them when they didn't bring me up for so long. I guess he was worried and thought they were keeping something from him; that something had gone wrong, maybe]
I wanted some time to collect my thoughts, maybe start feeling normal a little bit.. time to spend with Nathaniel and this new little person we were suddenly going to be taking home.. but everyone decided to come say hello and meet her at the same time. It was a pretty good sized circus for about 2 hours after I got taken to recovery. Josh, Kelsey, Amanda, Lexi, Laci, BRae and Nathaniel's mother were all there... By the time everyone left, I was tired of being around people.
Once everyone left, Nathaniel pretty much collapsed.. poor baby. He'd worked all night, driven 4.5 hours to the hospital and been awake all day.. I know he was exhausted. He passed out on the other bed in the room. Then the nursery lady came in and showed me how to breast feed. It was hard at first.. Lilah was so sleepy from the epidural and spinal block medication that she didn't want to wake up to nurse. But we finally got it. I fed her every 2 hours, even though I felt bad waking her up if she was anywhere near as tired as I was (it's been a stressful day for her too!!!)
I didn't sleep much that night. I called Dad, Donna, Clay and Mom and told them everything was fine and sent pictures to people that could get mms texts and posted some of them on facebook so everyone else could meet her.
Overall, it was a pretty long day. Long... but totally worth it <3
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